Digital Transformation – The phrase which was once considered a buzzword has indeed prevented millions of people from being affected by the COVID-19 virus and has also aided in limiting the spread of the virus in true sense. To control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, it is advised to maintain social distance which ultimately resulted in the school being closed, office shutdown, travel being restricted, shopping malls and non-essential business outlets closed. This has also forced people to work from home in most parts of the world for an extended period.
Working from home, which was once considered a perk – is the new normal. Thanks to the development of key technology improvements in the area of Cloud Computing, High-Speed Internet availability, SaaS-based office application products, Social Networking like communication platform, Virtual Server, and Remote accessibility of machines, etc. has primarily helped most business operations to function – with limited impact.
Most business which had already invested in these technologies were able to switch to the work-from-home operations without much deliberation/hindrance. But many firms were caught off-guard and were not ready for work-from-home scenarios. Some of the major questions concerning the CTO where the performance of the office IT infrastructure due to high network bandwidth, increased number of concurrent remote connectivity and VPN connection availability, training to the staff member on how to establish VPN connectivity. But the operation/department VP and line-manager were also caught off-guard as there were many office operations which are not yet digitized:
- Many accounts department still use physical check/cheque for account receivable and payment
- Many companies still generate paper copies of invoices
- Many companies keep the paper-copy of invoices in physical folders/files – locked in the cupboard
- Most of the company contract and statement of work (SOW) is still physically signed
- Take a print out of the contract
- Manually sign it
- Scan the signed copy and store it as a PDF
These are just some of the basic office task which is performed in a non-digital way. After the lock-down and work-from-home were initiated, these were some of the basic functionality which companies found it difficult to operate from home.
One of the most difficult barriers for an organization to adopt Digital Transformation is the acceptance of change. But, due to COVID19, now no business will ever say “But we have always done it this way”. Changing the mindset to adapt the Digital technology in its purist format is the need of the hours.
The history of the computer revolution can be summarized as follows:
- Year 1900 – 2000 – introduced the computer to the masses
- Year 2000 – 2010– Internet become main-stream and easily accessible to everyone
- The operation which was done physically was just transferred to be done on the computer
- Year 2010 – 2020 – is the Digital Revolution phase where we embraced digital technology in daily-life
- Smart Phone revolutionized the accessibility
- Cloud computing – made things available anywhere and anytime
- Social Networking – connected people virtually
- Data Analytics – Guided users in decision making
The immediate effects were –
- Currency Payment and Transfer can be made digitally via phone and other means
- 24/7 availability of News
- Entertainment via streaming video
- Social Networking platform to speak freely (in most countries)
- Virtually meet with friend and family via video streaming across the globe
Time has now come for every organization to re-think their digital strategy. Digital Transformation – is generally associated with using the technology of today to solve the business problems, adapt technology to develop innovative products/services, and completely re-transform the way the business is done.
Before the COVID19 crisis, many organizations had already started to digitally transform their business but either they were in the planning phase or the execution phase. But the crises of COVID-19 has forced them to reprioritize their business efforts and stop the digital transformation initiative.
I guess, now is the time for all businesses – small roadside shops/restaurants to big industries – everyone needs to think about adopting Digital Transformation. Leverage this down-time and see how one can reclaim the lost ground or change the business model using digital technology. It could as simple as :
- Connecting with the customer through a digital platform
- Adopting Cloud Computing platforms like #Azure or #AWS for hosting, data storage and applications
- Adopting SaaS-based – #SalesForce, #Workday, #ServiceNow, #Office365
- Rebuilding the legacy application by incorporating new technology platform
- Home Delivery options (if the customer cannot come to you, then you need to go to the customer)
- Automating the banking operations for payment and transfers
The dark phase of COVID19 will end soon but it now time to accept this digital challenge and say “Let’s adapt technology and rethink our business model, product, and services”.